A lot of people have been asking about what they get if they donate to the Codex - Project: Eternity KickStarter campaign and what sort of 6 NPC party we'll be aiming for in Project: Eternity. After pages of discussion and making it up as we go, we can finally give some more information. First off, if you donate, here's what the Codex will give you:

¹NOTE: They won't actually be on horses. It's unlikely Obsidian will be able to work in horses and the ability to ride them. Their budget is far too big and if history is any guide, only small teams can make horse-mounted combat.

1. Eustace Allistair: The leader of the group. If the player talks to him, he will ask the player if they would like to buy one of his "finely crafted, hand-made saddles" as this is "Eustace Allistair's Fine Saddlery Company". He introduces his team: "This here is Harvey - my man in charge of operations; that's Rupert - our head salesman; Howard - our Horseman and an excellent hunter; Akinmo - who handles the finer details of all our sales; Meltonsi - our messenger; and I am Eustace, of course.", further questioning reveals that the group "is travelling the countryside to sell our fine saddles. Would you like to buy one?". If the player says yes, "Excellent! Excellent! Speak to Harvey so that he can set you up.", if the PC says no however, than "Oh no, you must! Here, speak to Meltonsi..." and is immediately put into conversation with Meltonsi.

2. Jaguar Meltonsi (an anagram for Game Journalist): Speaking to Meltonsi "Hi there, I'm Jaguar - I chose the name myself - Jaguar Meltonsi, pleased to meet you! Have you heard about the fine saddles made by Eustace Allistair's Fine Saddlery Company? In my personal review for Saddle Riders Weekly, I rated them five stars for service and 10/10 overall. Did you also know they've been named 'Saddle of the Year' in over fifty publications? Why I even give each saddle my personal golden seal of approval!" Any attempts at conversation with Jaguar on any other topic will result in an additional sales pitch "Allistair's saddles are all AAA rated!". The player can say "Sounds great, who do I speak to if I want to buy one?" and is referred to Harvey. If Jaguar is killed, the player will find on him a "Questionnaire: It has a range of questions asking whether the respondent has any experience with Allistaire's saddles, whether they've used a saddle made by another company - and if they've ever expressed enthusiasm for a particular saddle".

3. Harvey Caine: Harvey begins, "You want a saddle? Here, let's see... we can fit you up with one of these...", at this time the player can ask "How hard is it to make a saddle?" to which he receives the reply "The challenge is everything", "Does Allistaire make all the saddles himself?", "Oh, Allistaire doesn't actually make any of the saddles. He pays other people to do that.", "Other people?", "Of course! He couldn't possibly make all the saddles he sells, there are too many. Allistaire is a great businessman. If he finds a good leather-crafter in town, he buys them up - streamlines the business by firing all the older employees who are stuck in their ways of making saddles in big expensive ways - and hires bright new, young vibrant people who are ready to learn saddle-making all over from scratch! Truly, he's a great man. I aspire to be just like him one day... Now I've just about got your saddle ready, you just need to talk to Akinmo first." In Harvey's inventory, the player will find a copy of "Bareback Riding Codex: A highly prestigious publication for aficionados of bareback riding. It's motto is 'Putting the 'bare' back into bareback riding'."

4. Akinmo Imura: Akinmo handles "the finer details of a sale". Before the player can buy one, they must talk to Akinmo who informs the player that "Eustace Allistair is following his family's long tradition in the art of saddlery. Secrets handed down by Allistair's ancestors through-out the generations have lead to our company becoming the world leader in saddle making today! Before you acquire a saddle from us, you must agree to a few conditions - This is nothing to be afraid of. We are only trying to protect Allistaire's family secrets.". If the player agrees "Sure, what are the conditions?" Akinmo begins to list them, each is presented as dialogue with a single "I agree" or "I won't agree to that" response. On any "I disagree", Akinmo immediately says, "Than you shall not have a saddle. Good day!" and conversation immediately ends. Any attempt to make further communication with Akinmo leads him only to saying "I wish you good day!" and no-one else in the party will talk to you either. His conditions are:
- "You must not disclose that the saddle is made out of cow leather."
- "You are not allowed to mention the length of time it takes to put the saddle on your horse."
- "You are not to mention that the saddle requires constant adjustment during every journey."
- "You must not mention that removing the saddle from your horse takes over an hour."
- "You may only refer to the saddle in a positive manner and must not make any negative comments about the saddle."
- "When talking about the saddle, you must refer to it as having been made by Eustace Allistair, the finest saddler in the land."
- "Finally, you will not discuss the details of this agreement with anyone."
Once the player agrees to all of those conditions, he is told to speak to Rupert...

5. Rupert Groehden (an anagram for The Redner Group): After agreeing to the terms and conditions as outlined by Akinmo, Rupert will say "Excellent, I heard you speaking with Akinmo and agreeing to our End User Saddle Agreement. Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a fine Eustace Allistair saddle". Rupert then gives the player a "Leather Saddle". Its description states: "This saddle has been made by Eustace Allistair, the finest saddler in the land. His initials are stamped on the side. It is clearly unfinished, requiring much additional work and is of poor quality." The player can talk to Rupert about the saddle, "I've had a look at the saddle and it doesn't seem to be very good..." to which Rupert replies "I believe reviews are completely subjective. Everyone is welcome to their own opinion and opinions are never wrong.", "Well I think your saddle sucks.", "Saying such things about the saddle would seriously deteriorate the professional relationship we have. I don't feel that you are fully aware of the consequences.", "Wait... Are you threatening me?", "Look, the saddle to which you have exclusive access is a review saddle and is several weeks away from completion. It is not necessarily representative of the final quality of the saddle.", "What? Now you're telling me the saddle's not even finished!", "I have to remind you, that if you plan on saying anything poor about our saddle, we'll have to get you to hold that opinion until we've completed making it", "Completed making it!? This is preposterous! I paid for a completed saddle! Not a poorly sewn, half-completed pile of junk!". At this point, conversation ends and Rupert says "Boys, we've got a trouble maker..." and combat begins.

6. Howard Pines: He is the group's Horseman, and so is responsible for the group's horses (which are of course, completely non-existant). According to Howard, "There's nothing like hunting in the country - because enjoyment to me, is riding around on horseback, killing things". When the player points out that he is, in fact, not on a horse - nor are there horses anywhere to be seen, Howard responds "It's not nearly as bad as it seems". The player can talk to Howard about the finer details of saddle-making and be told "Our saddles are designed to appeal to a wider audience. This saddle is our most ambitious saddle ever. We're excited to get it into everyone's hands and let them experience it for themselves. We hope they enjoy it. I think it's our best saddle yet." If asked about the inspiration for the saddles "I still look to other saddles for ideas, as it's pretty easy to pick something up that is done and out and mess with it, if it has an idea you are already thinking about. It could be any saddle. I even tried a saddle once from another saddle company, just to see how theirs worked." As Howard is the horse-master, you will find 6 pairs of coconuts in his inventory.

tl;dr: You encounter a group of horsemen, who don't have any horses, they proceed to sell you a saddle - which is crap - and which you probably can't use anyway because there are no rideable horses in the game.​

In the event there is some partcular issue with our meme-stuffed reference to the state of modern game development, we will work closely with Obsidian to make something that is "in the spirit" of the above. If you want this though, we MUST reach the $5k. If we fail to reach the $5k, we will see about taking the $1k for an NPC option and see what we can do that's similar.